Since there are no currently active contests, we have switched Climate CoLab to read-only mode.
Learn more at https://climatecolab.org/page/readonly.
Skip navigation
16comments
Share conversation: Share via:

Aadhithya Sujith

Jun 18, 2017
09:16

Catalyst


1 |
Share via:

Thanks for your contribution to the challenge, "Living facades" in buildings is a sustainable idea. However this idea is not new, this has been around for a long time. So to add value to the existing idea, you should consider exploring following queries.

1. How can we add "Living facades" to existing buildings at a consumer level, what are the products that users can use to grow Plants in buildings. 

I mean products like this.

http://www.thisisinsider.com/garden-tower-2017-5

2. What changes or innovations need to be made during construction of these buildings to include living Facades.

3. What are the additional unexplored benefits it can bring to buildings and consumers.


Ralf Lippold

Jul 7, 2017
03:10

Catalyst


2 |
Share via:

Dear Ben, 

"Living Façades" reminds me of a local startup here in Dresden called "Green City Solutions" (though at a much smaller scale, and currently bound to the urban spaces around streets and places). 

  • What could be possible incentives (or regulations) set by the communal and city governments that will enable implementation of "Living Façades" at public buildings that are planned and built (e.g. school houses)? 
  • What about including Denmark or the Netherlands as test regions, especially as these countries already put sustainability agendas in place?
  • What would be the quickest (small) prototype to be put in place in order learn quickly about the scaling challenges (especially around human behavior and assumptions about such projects)?
  • What might be the positive impact of "Living Façades" as a positive temperature regulator and fire prevention?


What are your thoughts? Much success for the ongoing competition 

Ralf 


Ben Towne

Jul 10, 2017
05:28

Member


3 |
Share via:
Proposal
contributor

Dear Aadhithya and Ralf,

Thank you for the links and comments.  I have tried to integrate the content/responses in the proposal.

I included an explanation behind the country selection. I'd be comfortable changing the selection to highlight projects going on elsewhere, as appropriate.  Until a recent bugfix, I had to re-select the country fields with every small edit to any field in the proposal.


Maria Repetto

Jul 13, 2017
10:05

Catalyst


4 |
Share via:

Dear Ben, 

I like your proposal. I think you can improve the rol of governments and their participation. They have to achieve goals as every country  have been signed in  Paris, so you can incluide this. I send you  the link to see how Buenos Aires, capital city of Argentina, has been implemented their Climate Chage Plan 2016-2020. 

www.buenosaires.gob.ar

Best regards,

María

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Ben Towne

Jul 14, 2017
12:12

Member


5 |
Share via:
Proposal
contributor

Hi María,

Thanks for your support! I have edited the proposal. I'm aware that most national governments have their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) from the Paris agreement. Do you know of any that specifically refer to green walls or living façades or vertical forests or similar? Do you know of any national governments that are involved in projects implementing this practice, which are not referenced in the proposal? Especially in the United States, we have learned that we cannot presently depend on our national government for any actions addressing climate change, including any steps to advance our own INDC or honor other terms from the agreement.  We are instead more focused on actions and practices that can be implemented locally by subnational governments and/or non-governmental actors (like building owners and architects).  Of course, national governments elsewhere might be more supportive.

Best wishes,
Ben


Aadhithya Sujith

Jul 15, 2017
09:47

Catalyst


6 |
Share via:

Hi Ben,

Your proposal looks more comprehensive and you have done a good job with taking up inputs from the Climate colab community and refining your proposals.

As you are aware "Garden House concept." is around for a long time, even ancient Egyptians used it and it is very effective. However to make your proposal innovative and stand out from the rest, I think you will have to research or come up with an innovative end product or products that will help people make these 'Living facades' easily.

Garden tower for example as I mentioned earlier is one such product but there could be more products like that.

Another interesting find is Organic Concrete For Living Green Facades and Hydroponic Living Walls.

I hope this helps.

Thanks & regards

Aadhithya


Ralf Lippold

Jul 17, 2017
06:58

Catalyst


7 |
Share via:

Hi Ben, 

It is great to see the positive dynamics as feedback from others come in and is embedded in the proposal pulling up new feedback. And this also triggers new connections. The ReGen Villages concept by James Ehrlich (entrepreneur in residence at Stanford University) comes to my mind in this context. 

@Maria, many thanks for the info on the approach Buenos Aires takes towards reaching the climate goals. 

Best regards, Ralf 


Christo Krastev

Jul 23, 2017
04:48

Member


8 |
Share via:

Do you have any idea what plant species will be used for landscaping facades?
What plant species will you use in the southern and what on the northern facade?
How will they be watered? How will they be serviced - cut, mowed?
How will plants be protected from high winds on high floors? What soil will be used? How will they be fertilized? What supplements in ..... it.

It would be a good idea to find answers to these questions so that your project can be transformed from a beautiful advertisement into a possible idea.

Best regards, land. arh. Krastev


Maria Repetto

Aug 9, 2017
08:59

Catalyst


9 |
Share via:

Hi Ben, 

Thank you for taking into account my comments.

I agree with you, but we can pull up these proposal together. 

I don´t know about the INDC´s related, but here you have a new link to show you how the local and national goverment can work as a team:

www.buenosaires.gob.ar/noticias/la-ciudad-frente-al-cambio-climatico

Thank you Ralf for your comments too!

Best regards,

María


Pia Jensen

Aug 15, 2017
10:05

Member


10 |
Share via:

Ben Towne

Aug 17, 2017
10:13

Member


11 |
Share via:
Proposal
contributor

@Aadhithya Thanks for the links!  The last two especially seem particularly interesting, and should be integrated with the proposal text (though I unfortunately don't have time to do that personally just now).   

In the first, the "garden houses" of ancient Egypt seemed to be just houses near/with a lot of gardens, where a garden was typically an enclosed area for plants.  I wouldn't be completely surprised if something like this used to exist somewhere, but I still think it's a good practice that could use a lot more widespread adoption (it's currently seen as a limited or novelty kind of thing in many places), and that wider adoption could bring significant benefits.   

The hydroponic living walls article opens with a focus on novelty, explaining the lack of prior coverage because "technology was still being developed for vertical walls."  I think that helps boost the argument for points on the "novelty" judging criteria.  

For only carbon absorption benefits, it's probably more cost-effective to put extra greenery in non-urban places (or to just stop burning down rainforests etc. to make room for e.g. grazing land), than to put that extra plant matter on or around buildings.  However, putting these extra plants on the sides of buildings especially in dense urban cores has many stronger benefits that are more direct to the people (and other species) living there, as outlined in the proposal (e.g. air quality, noise reduction, lower stress, better physical & mental health, etc.).  Further, getting people more mentally connected to and aware of the importance of the natural world can help shift individual actions and build political will for collective actions that have a larger impact on climate.

@Pla Green roofs are important too!  I included a note about these in Related Proposals from very early in proposal development, but I think trying to cover that topic in detail here would overwhelm the focus of this proposal. 

Thanks for your support!

P.S.: I do not plan on running social media campaigns during the voting period - so if you want to see the proposal do well in "People's Choice," mark your calendar to spread the word!


Pia Jensen

Aug 17, 2017
11:06

Member


12 |
Share via:

Good, I missed that note. At least it is there. I'll just say this:

Bonus points for green roofs is they provide security from UV breakdown roof material, can be adapted to capture and filter rainwater runoff, reduce pollution, raise property value, and, among other things, reduces urban heat island effect.

Green Roof Benefits https://www.nps.gov/tps/sustainability/new-technology/green-roofs/benefits.htm

I have friends preparing to put a green roof on their house here in Uruguay and I wish I could do the same but the pitch is very steep and I'm just a renter.

Glad to see your proposal here!


Ben Towne

Aug 26, 2017
09:38

Member


13 |
Share via:
Proposal
contributor

As an update, I have integrated content from those two articles as planned & noted in prior comments.  

Thanks again to all who support and comment helpfully on the proposal!


Teerth Brahmbhatt

Aug 27, 2017
06:55

Catalyst


14 |
Share via:

Dear Ben Towne, 

Great work on taking feedback and building a comprehensive proposal for this fantastic idea. There is one area that I feel could be improved upon. The government stakeholder piece could be buffered with a policy implementation recommendation. 

I have a colleague that has launched a company known as magnolia land partners they are working in multiple regions around the country within environmental markets established to allow different stakeholders to offset their negative environmental impact. These markets are run by the USDA. There doesn't seem to be much for an urban air pollution offset using living facades or other green offsets, it may be worth doing some research into whether or not these markets have been established in other countries and incorporating a plan of action for municipalities and states to set these up here in the US. 

keep up the great work! 

 

Best Regards, 

 

Teerth Brahmbhatt 

 


Pia Jensen

Aug 31, 2017
10:24

Member


15 |
Share via:

Ben - If you want to add technology to the mix, to monitor and assess the success of the green walls/roofs - you might want to see Radu Motisan's creations - The portable environmental monitor project or the uRADMonitor Model D https://www.uradmonitor.com/hackaday-prize-2015-best-product-finals/ and Model D https://www.uradmonitor.com/model-d-production-ready/


Drew Depriest

Oct 13, 2017
10:31

Fellow


16 |
Share via:

Adding to Pia's comment about adding technology - there's a startup based in Chicago called Sagegreenlife that designs and installs living walls for interior as well as exterior use. They leverage sensing technology to assist with ongoing maintenance. It's an exciting time to see what's entirely possible for implementing biophilia-driven designs infused with technology. 

The "ongoing maintenance and support" piece would be a risk I'd look at for long-term viability. How difficult (and costly) will an exterior living wall be to maintain?